Monte Cristo Sandwiches

Maybe not the healthiest meal ever, especially when deep fried in the traditional version, but a rich and savory treat is well deserved every now and then. I fully believe in moderation and too much of anything, even the healthiest of things, can be bad for you. So, let’s go ahead and make some room to indulge in these Monte Cristo sandwiches for an evening or lunchtime treat every now and then.

Ingredients
6-8 Slices of Bread
1 Egg
3/4 c. Milk
1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
4-8 Slices of Ham
4-8 Slices of Turkey
3-4 Slices of Mild Swiss Cheese
4 tbsp. Strawberry Raspberry Preserves
2-3 tbsp. Powdered Sugar
A few tbsp. of butter for the pan

In essence, I simply made French Toast slices, stuffed, and titled them Monte Cristo sandwiches. Much simpler, to me at least, then deep frying with batter or baking in puff pastry (which is another variation of making these).

If you aren’t familiar with making French Toast though, here we go… Crack the egg into a shallow bowl, beat a few times with a fork, then add the milk and mix with a few stirs as well. Heat your skillet (I recommend cast iron because I am obsessed with my cast iron pan) to medium heat. Place a dollop of butter on it to grease down the pan and keep your toast from sticking.

Add about 1/8 tsp. of cinnamon to the milk and egg mix. Dip a slice of the bread into the mix, getting both sides wet and then toss it into the hot pan. Key here is to dip, not saturate. Grill each side for about 1-2 min until browned. Depending on how thick your bread is, you might need to add another egg and milk for dipping, but this amount should get you through 6 thick slices or 8 thinner ones for 3-4 sandwiches.

Repeat the process for each slice of bread. Add butter to the pan as needed. I also add 1/8 tsp of cinnamon into the dip between every two slices of bread, but use more or less to your liking. Place 1-2 slices of turkey, ham, and one slice of Swiss cheese on each sandwich. Warm in the microwave if desired just to get the cheese melting if the toasts aren’t still warm. About 30 seconds should be plenty. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with the preserves. I also will warm the jelly preserves up so it’s easier to dip or dabble the sandwich with (45 seconds on half power).

Kid serving shown below with some fries and broccoli… tasty!

02 Feb This entry was published on February 2, 2014 at 8:00 am. It’s filed under Dinner, Main Dish and tagged French Toast, Ham, Monte Cristo, Sandwich, Turkey. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.